AUGUSTA, ME – A state medical board has reprimanded and fined a physician who was fired by Houlton Regional Hospital for kissing a patient in the emergency room.

Two nurses witnessed Dr. Waleed Khan engaged in a “passionate kiss” with a female patient who arrived at the ER under the influence of drugs and with lacerations on her arm, according to a March 19 consent agreement Khan signed with the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine.

The nurses reported the kiss to hospital administration, and Khan was fired. The hospital informed the medical board of the incident on March 12, 2013.

In his response to the board, Khan said the patient initiated the kiss, describing the incident as the result of a cultural misunderstanding and his ethnic background, according to the consent agreement. Khan, board certified in pediatrics, earned his medical degree from the University of Peshawar in Pakistan in 1997, according to a state licensing database. He told the board he didn’t know how to respond to the woman, saying he was from a culture where “he could not imagine this happening.”

The board uncovered no evidence that Khan initiated the kiss.

“Nonetheless, by continuing to kiss a patient who was under the influence of drugs, Dr. Khan engaged in conduct that exploited the physician-patient relationship in a sexual way and which brings discredit upon the practice of medicine,” the consent agreement states.

Neither nurse saw Khan attempt to push the patient away, according to the consent agreement.

Khan expressed regret about the incident’s effect on the hospital and jeopardizing his position, but he did not believe the behavior rose to the level of unprofessional conduct, the agreement states.

Khan practiced under a temporary Maine medical license valid from June 11, 2012 through June 10, 2013. He no longer has a license to practice medicine in Maine.

Khan now resides in Texas, according to the board.

In addition to issuing a reprimand for Khan’s violation of sexual misconduct rules, the board also fined him $1,000.